Lobby Group

But it is not as hard as we think. If we have a well financed lobbyist to do the job for us then we can be as effective as other well financed business groups. Sometimes we only have to pinpoint the chairman and members of the committee in charge of our concerns and problems in the federal, provincial or municipal governments to approach.

The alternative open to us and the less expensive is to hire a lobbyist to work for the passage of our bills. Business groups, multinational corporations and foreign governments do this and they find it effective. Most times the issue or bill is handled only by a certain committee. If the lobbyist has influence on that committee or members of that committee, the bill has a chance of passing. To get enough donations from the community is the problem with our people weary of money unaccounted for or the perception that leaders will pocket the money.

We have lots of concerns and problems that require political solutions. We must identify them; break them down into smaller problems if they are complicated. Let us brain storm on alternative solutions and let our experts choose the best. Then know how we can convince the Canadian members of Provincial or Federal parliament to pass those bills. Let us develop a long term political strategy.

Research on how much money has to be raised and create a committee to raise these funds either by donation, membership dues, and yearly contributions. It is hard work, years to develop and requires patience, time and money. But the rewards are worth it.
Endorsement

Will someone in the inner circle of the Prime Minister or the Office of the Provincial Premier or a strong leader indorse it? Many times if these people of influence endorse a bill, its chances of being approved are good. It means a strong connection, someone or a group whom the powerful can’t say no to or they are convinced that it is of great concern or urgent matter.
Solid voting:

The Iglesia Ni Cristo system of solid vote is hard to get from a divided Filipino community. But if there are rallying causes or goals which our people will support, it can be done. Many times a proper and extensive promotion and advertisement or the support of the powerful media does the trick. Again, we don’t need all the media people to support it.

Someone said that the easiest way to unite a people is for someone or a group from the outside to attack it and another group inside to unite them. But this has to be a common issue that will rally the people.
Support all Candidates

The Chinese style in the Philippines of supporting all the candidates with great potential of winning with funds is a fool proof way of winning and is a better option. However, Canadians do not perceive us as a force to reckon with and see the disunity of our people and therefore ignore our concerns. The trouble with us is we love to criticize or bad mouth our fellow Filipinos in front of Caucasians. Other ethnics don’t do this to their own.

Field own candidates

No matter how much we support Canadian politicians, they can’t truly represent us. They do not know how we feel and what our aspirations are. We will always suspect of their intentions of helping us. We have to plan and implement a political strategy that will put in place some of us as candidates and eventually win positions in the elected government offices.

Getting into politics is not an easy game especially with a people who do not trust its own. We have to dispel that mistrust. We have to sell the idea to our people that if other ethnic groups and mainstream Canadians can trust us, we should trust each other. There are crooks in every race or community. We have to be aware of that, identify and avoid them.

The saying that one spoiled egg will eventually destroy all the eggs in one basket is not true at all. Most of us are intelligent and know otherwise. We only have to look at ourselves in the mirror and see that while we are not perfect, we are not crooks. And that we are as qualified if not better than other politicians. We should not also look for perfect beings. Even the saints and angels have sinned.

We have to identify potential candidates, preferably our young generations born and raised in Canada. They are our best bet to win. Ask the political parties to train, field, promote, finance and campaign for our very own candidates for visibility, pride and influence. This must be our ultimate objective. Qualification, time and commitment must prevail, not popularity.

But we must first recruit; rally our people to be politically involved. Awareness should be our aim and promotion or education is therefore our first priority. We have to convince them that having political influence is very important for our progress as a community, as a people.

Let us create a benefit package that our people can’t resist and will move them to action. This is a marketing and promotions problem left best to those experts in this field. Create a Benefit package committee.

The truth is, in politics, politicians are just like the good products and services promoted by business corporations in the marketplace. They need campaign strategists, financing and have to build a good image to have a chance to win. Let us therefore also search and involve expert campaign managers or a good promotions team to pursue this dream. Of course we have to see to it that we have the most qualified candidates who are non controversial in order to avoid damaging our image as a people.
(Those who are interested on this topic and might want to get involved in fulfilling this dream, please email the author at rodjalram@gmail .com)

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Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, The Philippine Reporter (print edition) is a Toronto Filipino newspaper publishing since March 1989.
It carries Philippine news and community news and feature stories about Filipinos in Canada and the U.S.